October/November 2020 - Bay of Plenty Business News

SPECIAL FEATURE –
TAURIKO BUSINESS ESTATE
October/November 2020 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS 11
WHY THE TAURIKO
TAURANGA BUBBLE
WORKS
Tauriko has been one of the region’s most successful industrial parks and is
a core reason for Tauranga’s strong record over recent years in attracting the
likes of Jenkins Freshpac Systems and Brother Printers NZ to the Bay.
By DAVID PORTER
A
key recent example is
the decision early this
year by Fletcher Building
to relocate its state-of-theart
new Winstone Wallboards
plasterboard facility to Tauriko
– bringing a $400 million
investment boost for the
Bay. Fletcher Building chief
executive Ross Taylor said at
the time: “Our current site in
Onehunga, Central Auckland
is land-locked, which has prevented
us from expanding our
operations and improving efficiencies
by consolidating manufacturing
and distribution on
the same site.”
The new Tauriko site was
double the size and would
allow for further capacity
growth, he said.
Nigel Tutt, chief executive
of Priority One, which
worked with the company to
help bring it to Tauranga, said
Fletchers needed to move the
plant from Auckland. And the
Tauranga port had a lot to with
the decision.
“They import a large
amount of gypsum and Tauriko
was the best choice for their logistics
set up,” he said. “If you
import or export stuff and your
main markets are Auckland or
the upper North Island, Tauriko
works well, especially for
any logistics or distribution.”
But while Tauriko remains
busy, it now needs local infrastructure
developments to
catch up in order to continue
fulfilling its potential, as Bryce
Donne, director of primary site
developer Element IMF explains
in the following pages.
However, it’s important to
note, remarks major Tauriko
realtor, Philip Hunt of Ray
White Commercial, that Tauriko
benefits from what he calls
the “Tauranga bubble” centred
around the Port of Tauranga.
As a result of proximity to the
port, importers and exporters
of all sizes can ensure ready
access to material imports and
to destinations both nationally
and globally, he says.
Continuing growth
despite Covid-19
Above: Growing fast: Road Safe Traffic Management’s
Tauriko team.
Left: Road Safe Traffic Management’s Logan Dawson
with partner and office manager Greta Drummond.
Photos/Supplied.
Perhaps the most interesting
aspect of Tauriko’s continuing
development success during
a period when the country is
dealing with the ongoing impact
of Covid-19, is that companies
aren’t wanting to end
leases because they are having
to close down, but because
they are growing and optimistic,
said Hunt.
“These companies that are
expanding are in many cases
new, with young people running
them,” he said. “It’s exciting
and encouraging.
Logan Dawson started
Road Safe Traffic
Management in 2016 out of
a garage and home office
with one vehicle. He now has
offices in Whakatane
and Rotorua, and around
50 staff, 16 trucks and 16 utes.
“We do everything that
happens on a road,” said Dawson.
The company provides
safe compliant spaces for
roadworks – anything from
tree felling and road resealing,
to event parking control.
It is sometimes known as the
“cone” company. He added
that the company sources
thousands of cones a year, and
could lose 20 percent or so a
year to wastage.
The company started off
in Tauriko’s Paerangi Place
with around 400 sqm and recently
relocated to much larger
premises through Ray White
in Whakakahe St. “That has
given us better office space
and more building yard space,”
said Dawson.
Continued on page 12